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| CEP International Expands Global Growth Initiatives CEP International, a Chicago-area exhibit and events solutions provider, has announced that in response to its clients' growing international exhibiting needs the company has embarked on a major global expansion initiative that enables it to build custom exhibits as well as provide turnkey exhibit systems in more than 50 countries around the world. Headquartered in the Chicago area, CEP also has full-service offices in Las Vegas and Orlando. Although the company has been helping organizations worldwide achieve their marketing goals through innovative exhibiting solutions for more than 20 years, CEP International has seen a dramatic increase in the number of clients that are looking to exhibit outside of their domestic markets. "More and more of our clients are looking at trade shows and events outside of their own countries as major growth opportunities", said Werner Koos, President and CEO of CEP. "Despite the current economic situation, we see exhibiting internationally as one of the fastest growing trends and we are making a significant investment to help our clients grow globally". The first step in this process was to bring on board two high-level international executives with extensive global exhibit and trade show experience. Claude Adomaitis, Vice President, International of Business Development, heads up CEP International. He has 30 years of international exhibit and trade show management experience. As the founder and top executive of Chicago-based Exhibits Plus Trade Show Management for 18 years, and prior to that with Ludwig Drum Co., multi-lingual Adomaitis gained extensive expertise in the full spectrum of launching and managing international exhibitions as well as education programs and conferences. Adomaitis has been a long-time member of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), UFI, TSEA and EDPA. Noel Hoekstra, CEM, recently joined CEP as Director of International Accounts. Having gained extensive global expertise as a top executive with Messe Munich, Duesseldorf and Berlin, and being fluent in six languages, Hoekstra also has 30 years of experience with international show organizers, freight forwarders, and convention and tourism bureaus. Hoekstra is an active member of the IAEE and currently serves on its Midwest Chapter Board of Directors. Further supporting the company's international initiatives, CEP is a member of the Octanorm Service Partners International (OSPI) network - the world's largest cooperative of qualified exhibit builders, including more than 50 partners from around the globe. CEP maintains a large inventory of Octanorm system components, profiles, furniture, lighting, display counters, carpeting and accessories. CEP's extensive services enable exhibitors to design their trade show exhibits domestically, but build the final display closer to the actual show site. The 'design here, build there' philosophy saves both shipping costs and time. CEP's multi-national clients for which it has built major exhibits around the world include such global industry leaders as Maui Jim (Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Middle East), WideOrbit (Europe, Asia, Middle East, US), Cannondale (Europe, US), and multiple US trade show locations for Electrolux and BASF. CEP'S international growth strategy is also supported by an extensive PR/MarCom outreach campaign geared to educate exhibitors about the opportunities and challenges of exhibiting internationally. "Regardless of where our clients and prospects are located around the world, they all want to gain greater exposure at shows inside and outside of the U.S." added Adomaitis. "Our reputation as high-quality exhibit builders together with our expertise in international program logistics and venue protocol ensure that clients' brand image is being consistently applied and their comfort zone of exhibiting abroad is continually raised". write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Exhibition News :: home page |